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My Treasure
- 150 Years in the Upper Right Corner


By Sune Christian Pedersen

On 1st April 1851 the first Danish stamp was issued. It was cheap to buy and easy to use. For 150 years millions of Danish citizens have glued a stamp onto the upper right corner of the letter, dropped it into the letterbox to have it sent out in the world.


Through their motifs stamps became Denmark’s smallest ambassadors, national image-makers with an enormous expansion. They also became collector’s objects which are in some cases being sold among collectors at prices which are not exceeded by paintings by even the most appreciated Danish artists. The stamp is the treasure of the nation, your treasure – my treasure.

The Year of Grace 1851
In 1851 a total solar eclipse brushed the country, freedom of the press and civil marriage were introduced, the Danish troops returned from the war in Schleswig-Holstein, the first world exhibition was held in London, gold was found in Australia, a coup d’état took place in France, and there was a rising in China. The stamp was born in a turbulent time characterized by great social and political changes in Denmark as well as in the outside world.

Stamps are Bank Notes
The problematic of stamps is the same as with bank notes: Above all, it is important to provide against forgery.

The stamp was created in connection with a great postal reform which had been on the way since 1840 when the English Post Office service introduced the unit postage and the world’s first stamp. The postal reform had a considerable impact on the most important communication nerve of society: the postal service.

The reform should first and foremost make the postal communication more efficient. A unit postal rate was introduced which made the price of sending a letter independent of where in the country it was going. Previously complicated tariffs had been used to calculate the rate according to the distance the postmen had to carry the letters. The stamp and its necessary companion the letterbox were introduced in order to facilitate payment and posting of letters.

Culture, Prosperity, and Well-being
The postal reform emerged from a need for handling the rapidly increasing amount of letters in society. After the school reform in 1814 the number of people who were able to read and write a letter had grown. People moved around in the country a lot more and consequently needed to write more as well. On of the most important functions of the postal reform – and the stamp – was to support the extension of letter writing. It was considered "an important means in the hand of the State to promote culture, prosperity, and well-being".

Dealers and Collectors
Julius Tybring’s old stamp shop opened at Amagertorv [square] in Copenhagen in 1873. From here a line is drawn until today when the old stamps from 1851 have achieved status of collector’s items and investment objects. In the stamp shop you would find the story about the birth of stamp collection in Denmark whereas the back premises would contain the obscure, elegantly hung treasury with its heavy iron chests holding some of the nation’s greatest stamp treasures.


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